Some conservatives not assuaged by defense of Miers

JESSE J. HOLLAND

Published 7:00 pm, Tuesday, October 4, 2005

Associated Press Writer

Some of President Bush's conservative supporters are unconvinced by his defense of Supreme Court nominee Harriet Miers, creating dissension in a Republican Party that until now has reverently approved Bush's judicial candidates.

Conservatives in some cases are expressing outright opposition, some are in wait-and-see mode and some are silent, all bad signs for a Bush administration used to having the full backing of all wings of the GOP when it takes on the Senate's minority Democrats over judicial selection.

"I'm getting reports on both sides," said Paul Weyrich, a conservative leader from the Free Congress Foundation. "Some people are quite enthused about her and other people are very upset. The grass-roots are not happy, I can tell you that."

Miers, meanwhile, is trying to build up support by visiting senators at the Capitol on Wednesday, scheduling stops with GOP Sen. John Cornyn and top Judiciary Committee Democrat Patrick Leahy.

Bush defended the 60-year-old nominee at a Rose Garden news conference Tuesday, repeatedly implying that conservatives should trust his judgment in picking Miers to succeed the retiring Sandra Day O'Connor.

While insisting that he doesn't recall ever talking to Miers about abortion, he pointedly said, "I know her heart."

Bush, who emphasized that he's a proud conservative, said he hoped his supporters were listening. "I'm interested in someone who shares my philosophy and will share it 20 years from now," he said.

White House spokesman Scott McClellan on Wednesday said the nomination was only two days old and suggested that support for Miers would grow once senators looked "at her record of accomplishment." He said that while she would answer questions put to her by senators, the White House would not make available "confidential deliberative documents" relating to work she had done for the president.

After a strong push from the president and his White House staff, some conservative groups are coming out in favor of Miers, the White House counsel and longtime Bush friend. "I trust that she will be an excellent addition to the high court and all Americans will be proud of her," said Roberta Combs, president of the Christian Coalition.

And one of the Senate's senior conservatives, Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, was one of the first senators to announce his support for Miers.

"A lot of my fellow conservatives are concerned, but they don't know her as I do," said Hatch, a former chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee. "She's going to basically do what the president thinks she should, and that is be a strict constructionist" when it comes to deciding constitutional issues.

But many Senate conservatives are withholding judgment, and House Republican leaders have said little to nothing about Miers. Kansas Sen. Sam Brownback, a Judiciary Committee Republican and a possible GOP 2008 candidate, even invoked a favorite target of conservatives when talking about Miers.

"There's precious little to go on and a deep concern that this would be a Souter-type candidate," Brownback said, referring to Supreme Court Justice David Souter, a little-known judge nominated for the court by the first President Bush who later turned out to be liberal on the bench.

"The circumstances seem to be very similar," said Brownback, who will meet with Miers on Thursday. "Not much track record, people vouching for her, yet indications of a different thought pattern earlier in life."

Anti-abortion group Operation: Rescue on Tuesday promised an active campaign to get Bush to withdraw her nomination.

"The president seems to do what is politically expedient, versus what is morally correct," said Troy Newman, leader of Operation: Rescue. "Therefore, if we make it politically expedient for him to do the moral thing, that's what he'll do. The confirmation hearings haven't been scheduled yet, and until they have been and she's been confirmed, I'm very hopeful something will happen that will remove her name from consideration."

Newman acknowledged the consensus among grassroots conservatives was "to wait and see, to trust the administration, trust the president, almost to hold your breath and cross your fingers."

"My position to these leaders is that we cannot afford _ the babies cannot afford _ to wait and see," he said. "We did it with Souter, we did it with O'Connor and we did it with countless others. Now's the time to be vocal."

Senate Democrats, meanwhile, are mostly holding their fire.

"With so much at stake, we shouldn't rush to judgment about this or any other nominee, but even at this early stage of the confirmation process, I will say that I am impressed by what I know about Harriet Miers," said Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid, who has not indicated how he will vote on Miers.